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round-the-clock to keep you connected. we are doing our part so it's a little easier to do yours. >> sparklight supports c-span as a public service along with these other television providers, giving you a front row seat to democracy. >> white house national security spokesman john kirby talked about president biden's call with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu during the daily press briefing. this is just over an hour. hi, everyone, good afternoon. just a couple of things at the top, and then we will get going. the president will be traveling to baltimore where he will receive an operational update on response efforts from the unified command leaders, from the coast guard and the army corps of engineers.

we will share updates on the assistance air providing's estate officials in serving and removing the wreckage in the channel and allowing the port of baltimore to reopen as soon as humanly possible. the president will be joined by governor moore and other maryland and baltimore area elected officials. he would also be joined by secretary of transportation pete buttigieg. as we all know, six individuals tragically lost their lives when the francis kite keying -- key bridge collapsed last week. they were hard workers, laboring in the middle of the night to repair potholes on a bridge at tens of thousands of travelers crossed every day. the president will meet with loved ones of those individuals during his trip tomorrow. the president is continuing to lead all of government approach in responding to the bridge collapsed. as the president said within hours of the collapse, this administration will be with the people of baltimore every step

of the way. administrator guzman is in baltimore today as part of the administration's efforts to support small businesses in need. i also want to share a very big announcement that the vice president and administrator regan made today in charlotte, north carolina. they announced a $20 billion award to expand access to clean energy, tackled the climate crisis, improve air quality, lower energy costs and create good paying jobs. this will stand up a national network that will finance tens of thousands of climate and clean energy projects across america. at least 70% of these funds will be invested in low income and disadvantaged communities. this makes the greenhouse gas reduction find the single largest nontax investment in the inflation reduction act to build a clean energy economy by

benefiting communities that have historically been left behind. and finally, i want to briefly preview the president schedule next week. he will travel to madison, wisconsin and discuss how he is lowering costs for americans. later in the week, the president and first lady will host the prime minister of japan and his wife for an official visit to the united states. this will include a state dinner on wednesday, april 10. the visit will underscore the unwavering u.s. commitment to japan and japan's increasingly global leadership role. on thursday, april 11, president biden will host prime minister marcos of the philippines, the prime minister of japan in the white house for the first trilateral leaders summit. in addition, president biden will host the meeting at the white house on april 11. thank you for your patience.

with that, the admiral is here to talk about the president call with prime minister netanyahu and any updates in the middle east. >> obviously busy day here. i want to take a moment just as the start to recognize the 75th anniversary of the nato alliance, the greatest military alliance in the history of the world. you also the statement from the president earlier today celebrating this historic milestone. the alliance has stood together for freedom against aggression, provided a reliable bulwark that is help protect the american people. today nato is larger, stronger, and more relevant than ever before thanks in no small part to the presidents leadership. we look forward to building on all that progress in july.

as i'm sure you're all aware, the president had a chance to speak with prime minister netanyahu earlier today. on that fall call the president emphasize the strikes on humanitarian workers in the overall situation gaza are unacceptable. it may clear the need for israel to announce and implement a series of small, concrete steps, and the safety of aid workers. he may clear that u.s. policy with respect to gaza will be determined by our assessment of israel's immediate action on the steps. we underscore that an immediate cease-fire it is necessary to stabilize and improve the humanitarian situation. he urged a prime minister to empower his negotiations to conclude a deal without delay to bring the hostages home. they gust threats against israel and the israeli people. present biden may clear the u.s.

strongly supports israel in the face of those threats. that's all i have. >> you said several times that [indiscernible] willingness to reach a deal in the last several weeks. >> it takes active participation and negotiation on both sides here. that is what the president is urging. in the call he was urging the prime minister empower his team to the maximum extent possible to see if we can get this deal in place. >> support for the israeli operation in gaza, what would potentially be cut off from israel, and second, what do you

want to see from israel to protect civilians? >> i'm not going to preview any potential policy decisions going forward. what we want to see are some real changes on the israeli side and waited -- if we don't see changes from their side, i want preview what it could look like. >> is that just the body count? >> in terms of concrete steps, what we are looking to see and hope to see here in coming hours and days is a dramatic increase in humanitarian assistance getting in and getting additional crossings opened up, and a reduction in the violence against civilians and certainly aid workers. even as the israelis work through their investigation, we

want to see the -- that they're willing and able to take practical, immediate steps to protect aid workers on the ground and to demonstrate that they have that civilian harm mitigation in place. i will let the israelis speak to what they will or will not duke, but we will be looking for concrete, tangible steps if they are taken. >> to go back to that point, in your readout, when you say the president made clear that u.s. policy with respect to gaza that will be determined by our assessment of israel's immediate action. could you decode that for us? >> i think it is very clear in the language itself. we are looking for concrete steps to alleviate humanitarian suffering in gaza. i will not get ahead of what the israelis will or will not say or announce. we are looking for concrete steps being announce here soon.

it is the execution of those announcements and those decisions and implementing them. will watch closely and monitor how they do on the commitments that they make. as i said earlier, if there is no changes to their policy and their approaches then there is going to have to be changes to ours. >> i think what the world wants to understand is the white house warning that it may remove military aid? what exactly is the threat here? >> i think i have stated it pretty clearly. i'm not going as i said earlier, i'm not going to preview steps and decisions that haven't been made yet. there are things that need to be done. there are too many civilians being killed. the risk to aid workers, unacceptable. we have certain organizations reaccording whether they are

going to be -- reconsidering whether they are going to be able to continue operations in gaza. let's see what they do. i'm not going to get ahead of that. >> i'm going to try this one more time. the president seems to have said to the prime minister today make these concrete change or else. it is the or else i want to make clear here. is the president threatening to withhold aid to israel? they don't make changes? >> it will be dependent upon our assessment of how well the israelis make changes and implement changes to make the situation better for the palestinian people. >> how much time are you give them to make these changes? >> we hope to see the announcement coming in next few hours and days. hours and days.

>> why today? >> why today for the phone call? >> why the shift in policy today? >> i think, look, president -- all of us, particularly the president, was certainly shaken by the attack on the wck convoy and the aid workers. as i said earlier, it wasn't the only event. there had been others like that, humanitarian aid convoys coming under fire and losing people. and the president felt strongly that it was time to talk to president netanyahu about his concerns. >> would you characterize this call as an ultimatum? >> i would characterize this call as very direct, very businesslike and very professional on both sides and the president laid out his significant concerns about the direction where things are going and quite frankly laid out the -- that we are willing to reconsider our own policy

approaches here dependent upon what the israelis do or don't do. >> can you tell us who else was on the call? >> it was a bilateral call between the two leaders, prime minister netanyahu and president biden. they were the only two speakers on the call. >> did vice president harris dial? >> vice president harris did dial in. james sullivan. i don't know who else was also listening on the israeli side but the discussion was between the two leaders. you're not satisfying what concrete steps israel must take. >> we want to see more crossings open up and more trucks getting in from jordan. the investigation of civilian harm, particularly to

humanitarian aid workers, all civilians. we want to see they have moved forward on proper steps to deconflict with aid workers as they move around. that the information flow is viable. >> that language we have heard for weeks now, you're not talking about telling us how exactly you will measure the measurable steps. right? >> what i said was we're going to -- we're going to examine our policy approaches based on the -- our assessment of the way that the israeli side modifies their behavior, modifies their policy and decision making processes and so first of all let's see what they say they are going to do and then let's watch and see how they execute to what they say. i don't want to get ahead of them on what they plan to say about the changes they are going to make but we'll base our

policy decisions based on an assessment of how they execute their policy decisions. >> you're not talking about what potential u.s. policy changes are on the table. say whether the president shared that with the prime minister on the call? >> he made clear absent changes to civilians on the ground and the volume of humanitarian assistance getting in, absent any movement of a cease-fire that will allow hostages to get out and more aid to get in, absent a calming down that he will sl to reconsider his own policy choices with respect to gaza. >> and one of the seven aid workers was obviously an american citizen. did the prime minister offer the president an apology?

>> he has made a public apology for the strike. >> there was no mention of rafah in this readout. can you discuss that? >> this conversation was focused primarily on to get a temporary cease-fire in place. a need to be a pause in the fighting so we can get the hostages out. humanitarian assistance. we need to see that steps are being take on the learn from this strike and to make changes from the way civilian harm is mitigated and they spent time talking about the very public threats from iran to israel. the president as i said made very clear to the prime minister that the united states support for israel to be able to defend itself from a range of threats remains ironclad.

>> how long did this last? >> 30 minute or so. >> why the change in tone? has there be growing frustration on the part of president biden that previous messaging to prime minister netanyahu just doesn't seem to have gone through? >> yes, there has been growing frustration. >> one question on israel. we saw in the past president biden pushing netanyahu to put that -- how much matters, the same day, the u.s. was approving more -- how much there were actions -- to -- israel not doing enough to protect civilians? >> i'm very glad the question came up. i've seen press reporting about a arm sales and that kind of

thing. i would remind you that with the exception of the immediate two months after the attack, we haven't really sent emergency aid and military answer to israel. there was in the first couple of months, but what you're seeing here is the result of a process of foreign military sales to israel that takes years and a lot of this material that has been reported publicly was notified to congress many, many months, if not years ago in the train to get to israel. i think it is important to remember as i tried to mention in the last answer, that israel still has a lot of threats. we're still focused on threats throughout the region including from iran. the united states has an ironclad agreement to help israel with defense.

t2000 pound bombs are things that have been long in the train. the military sales process was not tied to this conflict. >> can i have one more on israel. yesterday maduro -- for venezuela and guyana and accused the united states of -- so what is your -- if they were -- the military base -- the defender in -- >> we said many times there is an 1899 ruling about the border. between guyana and venezuela and we want both sides to respect that ruling and to do it peacefully. >> thank you. >> you said we would hope to see an announcement of changes. i'm wondering if that is just hope or is it an expectation? is it based on a commitment? >> we expect there will be some

announcements coming from israel in coming hours and days, but i want to respect their rights to manage that process on their own. >> ok. and was there any update given by prime minister on what exactly happened with the -- >> they didn't talk about the actual strike in great detail. the prime minister did reiterate as his military has that this was on them. the investigation was concluding. they look forward to seeing it and he would take appropriate actions to make sure something hike that couldn't happen again. obviously they talked about it. of course. but did they go through point by point the investigation's findings? no. i think the prime minister's office is still evaluating the investigation. >> to get a technical understanding of you described the very long process of supplying arms to israel. if this contingency is not met

and there is a change in u.s. policy, how easy or hard would it be to slow down or change ship jments to israel based on current law and all the requirements and all the things you just described? >> i don't want to get ahead of where we are. let's see what the israeli side does and says and what they implement and where they go before they talk about actual policy decisions. i'm not going to close down decision space for the president of the united states. he gets to make those decisions. as commander in chief, yes, certain foreign military sales is supported by legislation but there are certain things you can do to manage that. let's not get ahead to where we are. this is about seeing what the israelis say they are going to do and then act on those changes. did you -- the prime minister netanyahu?

>> i keep getting these questions about leverage israel is a friend and a partner. the security of the israeli people and the longevity of the israeli state. that is not going to change. but i can say and i don't think the prime minister would mind me saying today in the call today, he reiterated his thanks to president bide if any tr support we continue to provide israel. it is long standing. it was before october 7 and it is now. that support is going to continue again. with respect to gaza, we need to see certain changes and if we don't then we will have to consider changes to our own policy. it is not about leverage. it is about the relationship and it is about the credibility. i would even say the unique credibilitile, that this particular president has in

israel and with israeli leadership based on his long service and support. >> do you think the prime minister was listening? >> i think it was northwest the phone call today. it was a good discussion. direct, no question. but it was a good discussion. i believe that the president made very clear his concerns and the president acknowledged those concerns. >> we understand that this call was set up after the strike on the kitchen workers. would you say the call was the result of that? was that the reason behind the call? >> yes. >> the convoy was -- any sphrons the u.s. in that? >> i haven't seen anything from the investigation. they have said themselves after an investigation there was no deliberate targeting of wck and

chef andres. they are working their way through. the ept investigation i understand is very close to complete. the prime minister talked about it broadly and reiterated it today that there was no deliberate targeting of that aid convoy. >> very close to president. said that we have reached a moment where the -- israel has -- >> the president i think it is clear in the readout, nadia, that the president has made it clear today that if we don't see changes to the way the idf is treating the innocent civilians and aid workers and that he is going to have to reconsider our

gaza policy. he was very direct with the prime minister. i'm not going to close down the space. i can't do that but he made it very clear that we need to see some changes on the israeli side. >> i want to ask you about a very disturbing investigative report by an israeli journalist. he said is the white house aware of a program use by the israeli army to target -- where this program has only 20 seconds of human super vision and has led to the death of thousands of women and children in gaza. are you aware and does the president believe it can be used with that super vision? >> i will have to get back to you. >> thank you. first of all looking ahead to the travel lateral summit next week, what are some of the

priorities? we recently heard the ambassadors of the u.s. and japan are going to discuss the china sea. >> i believe the pentagon will have more to say on that this afternoon. we're always looking for opportunities to improve cooperation with oural allies in the indo pacific. we're looking forward to this summit next week. i think it will be very, very important. we have a self-defense kentucky. we look forward to a chance to sit down with the japanese and filipino counterparts. there is a lot to discuss. the tensions in the south china sea are not going away. there is an awful lot to talk about there.

>> a small country that doesn't get a lot of attention. president biden has decided to send president clinton on the 30th anniversary of the genocide. what does it say about president clinton's lack of action when it was happening? and 1998 president clinton pledged to the rwandan people that his administration was going to work to identify triggers of genocidal activity so nothing like this ever happen again. do you think washington has improved on that front? >> i believe -- i can't speak for every administration between 1998 and today but president biden absolutely takes those responsibilities very, very seriously particularly when it comes to genocidal threats wherever they occur around the

world and is pleased president clibt clipton is leading. our hearts and our prayers go out to the families of the surreceivers of those who were killed. just a dreadful situation. again, the president is grateful that president clinton has agreed to go down there and represent the administration. >> two questions. israel and another on china. does president biden believe a military victory against hamas is possible for israel? >> that is up for the israelis to determine. it is difficult to eliminate an ideology with military means. you can absolutely through military means decapitate their leadership, dry up their

resources, eliminate their infrastructure, their ability to operate store weapons, train troops. all of that stuff can be targeted with military means, but as i have also said and you have to keep it in the context of this call. it matters how you do that. it really matters a lot how you do that. it is the how that the president was focused on today and the way that these operations are being prosecuted and the additional harm coming to civilian aid workers and innocent gazans. >> xi reportedly told president bide than beijing plans to reunify taiwan with mainland china. is the chinese leader bringing up a similar message in the call and what was president biden's response? >> it came up. there is not a single discussion where we don't talk about

taiwan. of course it came up. i won't characterize president xi's comments but president biden was very, very clear that nothing has changed about our one china policy. we don't support independence for taiwan but we also don't want to see the status quo change in a unilateral way and certainly not by force. >> you said that rafah was at the point of this discussionant wasn't discussed a lot. is that going to be an ongoing discussion between the u.s. and israeli officials? >> it twupt focus of this call. the call was really about the humanitarian situation and changes we need to see. we look forward to having another conversation with israeli counterparts in the coming days hopefully on rafah. we hope this one will be in person. we'll have more on that as we get closer to it. >> an operation in rafah would

not run counter to the conditions the president laid out? >> i didn't say that at all. we expressed the death and destruction it can recommendedder to the 1.5 million gazans seeking refuge there. you can't talk about rafah and the possibility of operations going after those humanitarians in rafah without talking about the humanitarian situation there which is dire. >> does president biden agree with donald trump that the israel -- in hamas is taking a long time? >> i'm not going to compare the president's views to mr. trump. i think you can understand i need to stay out of that. all i would tell you is we have expressed our concerns about the manner in which operations are being conducted.

and the speed and the energy with which we want to see changes to the way those operations are being conducted. i think i will leave it at that. >> does the president think the war with hamas is taking too long? >> he believes they have a war to go after the threat of hamas which is still viable. we will support and continue to support not just philosophically but tangibly it will defend itself against a range of threats including this against hamas. i want to reiterate what i said earlier. it is not just the threat of hamas israel is facing. they are facing broader threats throughout the region including directly and publicly from iran. >> to follow up on that first, did the president warn netanyahu about an iranian plan to attack inside israel within 48 hours? >> i'm not going to talk about

intelligence matters, peter. i think you can understand. but they did talk about a very public and very viable real threat by iran to israel's security. i think i need to leave it at that. that is really as far as i can go. >> president dieden said on october 7 our support for israel security rock solid and unwavering. that is not true anymore, correct? >> no, that is true. it is true today. >> how does it support you are reconsidering policy changes? >> both can be true. >> they are completely different things. >> no, i'm sorry. >> as it said in that readout, we made clear and he made it clear to the prime minister if his call, our support for

israel's self-defense remains ironclad. they face a range of threats. the united states is not going to walk away from israel helping itself. you can believe that and the president does and still believes that the manner in which they are defending themselves against the hamas threat needs to change and that is the conversation that we had today but both things are true. the support is ironclad and consistent. it is not going to stop. to see not going to waiver. but will there perhaps be some policy changes we might have to make if we don't see policy change out of israel? >> how is that unwavering? it sounds like you're trying to have it both ways here. we are going to make all of these changes because we don't support israel. >> i didn't say we're going to make changes. we need to see how israel responds to the humanitarian crisis and how they respond the

protection of aid workers. i think we can agree you don't want to see innocent civilians targeted. >> you're a policy maker and you're talking about policy change. that was not what you were talking about october 7. solid and unwavering. >> on october 7 there wasn't near famine in gaza. on october 7, there wasn't a dimuni iran the on of trucks getting into gaza. we isn't see thousands of innocent people getting killed. we're talking about a conflict that is six months this weekend. it has changed over time and what the president's message today was is we need to see some changes in the way that israel is dealing with that threat. that is what two good friends

and allies have discuss. this is not about changing. >> where is president biden on any of this when he wants to talk about how angry or frustrated he is about the high cost of insulin he comes out and gives an impassioned speech. where is he on any of this? >> he has been issuing statements on this. >> where is he -- why isn't he here now? >> i'm sure you will continue to hear from the president on this. >> we have to wrap it up. >> can you share anything about white house views on the upcoming council resolution? >> yeah, actually i can. i do have some notes. i want to get this right. last month, ambassador thomas greenfield announced the united states and japan would put

forward a security council resolution calling on all countries not to deploy nuclear weapons in space or develop them to be placed in orbit around the earth and we will bring it to a vote in new york early next week. it should be straightforward. the outer space treaty which has been signed by more than 130 countries including russia, prc and of course the united states prohibits the deployment of nuclear weapons or other weapons of mass destruction in or orbit period. we look forward forrussia votins resolution. if they do, that should open up questions to mr. putin about what his intentions are. >> to clarify on the cease-fire language.

he said there should be a cease-fire and then the next -- prime minister -- are the two tied together? is he saying cease-fire right now and then the other thing later? >> i can't really improve upon the president's language. we want to see a pause in the fighting and a cease-fire immediately so we can get more humanitarian assistance in and create a set of conditions where aid organizations feel better about operating inside gaza because as we have already seen as a result of the -- some aid organizations now are pulling back. we want to see a cease-fire in place. we think that that could also provide a window here to get the hostages out. thank you very much.

>> was it an ultimatum? >> thank you so much admiral. [inaudible] >> look. i think the admiral made it very clear. we are giving the israeli government an opportunity to deal with something that is pretty serious. humanitarian aid workers. they are being killed. i think we talked about, we've seen that more than 200 aid workers in the past several months. so that needs to stop. we are giving the israeli government time to come up with some ways, some measures here on how to avoid that. we have to keep civilians safe. we have to keep humanitarian workers safe. i don't want to get ahead of

that. we are always in conversation with congressional members. i don't have a readout of outreach that was done after the call. the call ended not too long ago. don't want to get ahead of that. in the readout, the president made it clear where he stands in this moment. he made it very clear after the horrific -- what happened. seven brave people doing heroic work, what happened to them. he put out a strong statement. the president has been clear. he's outraged and heartbroken. this needs to stop. we need to protect civilians. that's why his team is having conversations with the israeli government and what that's going to look like. they are having a reasonable debate back and forth and talking about that. we expect that to happen in person very shortly. so the president has been very

clear, we have to protect civilian lives, humanitarian aid workers. those conversations are going to continue. >> [inaudible] >> so a couple of things. did have a moment to look into that. the president and his senior team have actively been honoring their commitment he made in continuing that ongoing engagement with community directly impacted by the conflict in gaza. he did that by hosting community leadership this week. also, senior white house officials going to michigan, illinois, continuing those conversations over the past several months. so look, we believe that by going across the country and hearing directly from community leaders in numerous states, we

are keeping that ongoing commitment. so the three doctors, there were three doctors who recently returned from gaza who participated in the meeting. they shared their first-hand experience with president biden. we are trying to be really respectful in keeping the privacy of those who are attending these private meetings . but we were able to share, there were three doctors who have had first-hand experience of going to gaza and they were able to share their firsthand experience with the president. so i can share that. i want to be careful because we want to keep our commitment in keeping these conversations private. that includes the attendees. >> [inaudible] >> what i can say is, i have not checked in on that. three doctors coming to the meeting the other day and laying

out their firsthand account, that's important. we were able to share that information with you. three doctors who have been in gaza. they shared eckley with the president what they have seen on the ground. that matters. want to be clear about that. look, we are going to continue to keep our commitment in hearing from folks in the communities who have been directly affected by this. that's been our commitment from very early on. we understand how painful this is for many. we understand how important it is to hear directly from americans. this is what the president wants to do. he's a president for all americans. on this issue, it's important to do that as well. >> [inaudible] is the president going to designate a coordinator? >> i'm glad that you asked that question. we have a couple things to share

with you. the president has been briefed yesterday as well. the health and safety of american public is very serious. we take that very seriously. our top priority is to keep communities healthy, safe, informed. the white house immediately stood up a response team with relevant agencies like the cdc, fda, usda to ensure we are doing everything in our power to keep communities healthy, safe, informed. ensure that the food supply remains safe and monitor all trends to mitigate risk and prevent the spread of avian flu. we are in regular touch with relevant agencies and receiving daily updates. we take that very seriously. when you think about the avian flu, agencies have been paring for this for 20 years now. so we have invested the ability to test, prevent, treat. as cdc said themselves, right now the risk to human health from this outbreak is low.

we want to keep it that way which is why we set up this immediate response team. so we are going to continue to monitor. we are going to look for all relevant trends as it relates to the avian flu. we want to make sure that we keep all-americans safe. thank you for the question. >> is speaker johnson working on his own form of ukrainian aid on the floor? with the white house, with the president, democrats working to get in a speaker? >> we've always been very careful when it comes to leadership. we've always said, when it comes to picking the speaker in the senate, we want to let congress deal with that. in this case, something that health -- house republicans have to decide on. leader jeffrey santos caucus

have to decide. we aren't going to weigh in on that. we've been very consistent and we stand by that. >> any recent contact with the speaker's office? >> i don't have anything to read out to you at this time. we are in constant communication with congressional members on the hill. i want to say, when it comes to national security supplementals, that includes all include -- all important ukrainian aid. we believe there continues to be bipartisan support in congress. the speaker needs to put that on the floor. he needs to make sure that he gives house members an opportunity to vote for that. we believe we would get overwhelming support. there are lives at stake here in ukraine. brave people of ukraine need assistance from the u.s. to continue to fight for their democracy. that's what we've been able to do for more than two years. we have to continue that. because of congressional inaction, we've sadly seen them

losing ground in the battlefield. so we believe the speaker needs to put that on the floor. let congressional members vote on it. we think it will get overwhelming support. 72-29 coming out of the senate. it has to move. lives are at stake here. >> was the president briefed yesterday, did he see the comments from writers? >> he is aware. he's been briefed and he's aware about the comments. you saw the president. we put that in his statement. we make sure that it was in his statement, how he felt about his relationship, his friendship with jeff on dress. he considers him a friend. he sees him as a hero and everything that he's done not just in gaza but across the globe in feeding people who are in need. the humanitarian assistance that he provides.

the op-ed that he wrote is incredibly powerful. the first couple words out of his statement yesterday was outraged and heartbroken. seven people died. outraged and heartbroken. >> what about the discrepancy between how he describes a deliberate attack on his workers versus what the white house and israel has said in terms of describing that attack? >> there's an ongoing investigation. we will let that move forward. i think we can all understand how heartbroken the chef is at this moment. we understand that. we are morning with him. we are morning with the families that lost their loved ones. we can be sensitive to that. as it relates to making a declarative statement, we have to make sure the investigation moves forward. we will see where that takes us. >> [inaudible]

the american citizen who was killed in the kitchen strike. they said this morning that they haven't heard from anyone in the u.s. government except for that first day when they got the notification from the u.s. embassy. what's the white house plan to reach out to them? >> i don't have a read out for you at this time. look. we've been very clear about this. our hearts go out to the families. this is tragic. we send our deepest condolences obviously to the family of jacob. he and the world central kitchen workers were doing good work. what happened on the ground as they were doing that work in gaza is tragic and devastating and heartbreaking. we just don't have any

additional calls to read right now. i expect members of the administration to be in touch with the family to express our condolences directly. i just don't have anything to readout at this time. obviously our hearts go out to all the families who lost someone they love. >> several democrats are now calling for an independent investigation into what happened here. is the white house open to changing their position on this? >> we are going to let the israeli government do their investigation and see where that takes us. i don't want to get ahead of that. they are doing an investigation. we've said we wanted to be comprehensive, make sure that there's accountability. we wanted to be swift and public. don't want to get ahead of that. let that process move forward and we will see where we are from there. >> yesterday, john kirby said

that the u.s. would not consider a shift in their policy towards israel until they finish their review of the kitchen strike. just now, they said the u.s. may consider a change if they don't make changes in gaza within hours and days. where is that shift coming? >> the conversation that happened today with the president was very direct, productive, professional. 30 minute conversation. it was based on humanitarian aid , protecting aid workers which is really important, protecting civilians. that's what the conversation was primarily about. we want to see measurable changes to protect those aid workers, to protect civilian lives. so that's what he was talking about. that's what the president laid out in the statement that we put out. you heard that from secretary blinken today.

we want to make sure that we are very clear about that. we want to see measurable changes to how humanitarian aid workers are protected. that's what the conversation was about. that's the changes that we want to see. that's what he was talking about in the days to come. >> yesterday, the israeli war cabinet minister called for israel to hold early elections by september. >> we are not going to get involved in the israeli government or any government elections. that is something for them to decide on. that's not coming from here. >> i have a question about electric vehicles. ford said it's delaying production on election -- electric suv. tesla said sales are plunging. do these types of developments make the administration rethink their ev policy? >> not at all. when it comes to ev sales, they

are reaching record highs. they are more affordable than ever because of the work that the administration has done. last year, sales surpassed one million for the first time at her. that matters. sales of hybrids and ev's are a record high of 18%. average price is down 20% from just a year ago. so we believe that this -- the president has always said that he makes -- wants to make sure that we do everything we can to lower prices. this is part of that. also do everything we can to deal with the climate crisis. this is part of that. >> is it realistic to go for -- from 8% of sales to 50% of sales if automakers are cutting back on production? >> we've seen that u.s. manufacturing jobs have increased. jobs have indeed increased.

when you see a boom like this, that means you need autoworkers. it can't happen on its own. so we believe this is working. we believe this is part of what the president has promised. and we want to see a manufacturing industry that's for the future of the country. that's what we are seeing. that's what the president is working towards. >> question about yesterday's call. is president biden concerned enough about tiktok -- why is the vice president still making videos for tiktok? >> that's coming out of the campaign. wait? it's the campaign's decision. we've been very clear, we are not trying to ban tiktok. we are talking about a divestment. you heard that from the national security advisor when he's been here a couple times at the podium speaking to tiktok and the legislation and how we are

trying to move forward. it's a platform that we really need to take seriously here. we are talking about national security. so we've talked about not banning, divesting. we want to be very clear about that. >> [inaudible] will brainard calling major baltimore employers, demanding not to cut jobs in the wake of the bridge collapsed. can you confirm that that outreach is happening? >> a couple of things. i've read this out before. supply chain and potential economic impact. the president supply chain distribution task force has convened multiple times at this point to analyze the impact to supply chains. it's been manageable which is important. the task force works with railroads to set up new service lines and supports to diverse -- diver vessels.

the administration has made low interest assistance eligible to look -- to eligible businesses to help on the ground. as it relates to your question about senior white house officials, they've had called major employers in the baltimore area including retail chains and distributors to encourage them to retain workers. we want to make sure that we are having those important conversations for the people of baltimore. they are also working with fda to reach out to small businesses and are in touch with local union alongside the labor department as well. we are going to do everything we can to have these conversations with stakeholders so that we can identify and address any potential disruptions. so if anything, this should show that this is an administration that's being active and proactive obviously in trying to make sure that we deal with any

potential economic impact. as i said at the top, we see this being manageable. that's why these conversations are critical with stakeholders. >> will be get an update tomorrow about congress moving forward on the funding package? >> i'm not going to get ahead of the president. he is going to be there on the ground. we will certainly have more to share later tonight. as i mentioned, he's going to have an opportunity to engage with family members. we lost lives on that night. the president understands what it means for people to have lost so he will be there for those families like he will be there for the people of baltimore. >> i had up -- had a question about the state dinner next week. the white house announced the dinner is going to be held in the easter room. i was curious. last time, it was held on the south round -- lawn.

is it out of concern about protesters? >> not at all. it's not the first state dinner that's been held in the east room. i believe south korea was held in the east room. i wouldn't read too much into it. i will take one more. [inaudible] >> you are correct. it's been a while. >> i want to ask you about press freedom. the government appears closer to exercising -- extraditing julia mesons. i'm wondering what the white house thinking is regarding that matter and potential press freedom. does the white house have a stand on press shield

legislation? >> you are talking about the press act? i've said this many times. i said this last week. journalism is not a crime. we've been clear about that. as it relates to this particular legislation, i haven't reviewed it. we have to talk to our office of legislation affairs. i do want to say, back in october of 22, the justice department codified a policy to ban subpoenas of journalist records. the president supports the right of free and independent press. that is something the president talked about when he was at the gridiron. the president talked about this at the last white house correspondents dinner. he's been very consistent about this. i will quote him for a second. a free press is a pillar of any free society. while we may not always agree with certain coverage or admire it, we do admire the courage of

the free press. journalism is not a crime. >> no stance yet on the press act that you are aware of? >> i don't have much more to share besides what i just laid out here. i will just leave it as what i just stated. >> it's been five years. >> i understand. i heard the question. i'm not going to be able to go beyond what i just stated. >> anthony bernal is one of the most powerful figures in the white house. the first lady referred to him as her work has been. three colleagues have laid allegations of sexual harassment against him, upon reports of bullying. some of these sources have worked with you. i think you find them credible. the chief of staff issued a statement refuting the allegations, as unfounded attacks without investigating them. my sources say they are alarmed about it because it could still

lead to harassment and bullying. how can the white house publicly justify not investigating these allegations? >> i don't know who your sources are. with all due respect, i can't speak to that. i just don't. they are blind sources. i can't speak to that. what i can speak to is the statement from our chief of staff saying they are unfounded. we saw a strong statement from anthony himself, obviously in your reporting. he said the same. i cannot speak to personnel investigations here or anything like that. that's not something i will ever speak to. i'm not saying there is one. i'm just saying that i cannot speak to that. that's not something i can do. hold on. i have known anthony for some time now and known him more than a decade. i've worked closely with him. i consider him a friend.

also colleagues that i respect. that's basically what you also heard from jeffrey science. i don't have anything to share beyond your reporting. >> the president said he would fire people for disrespecting policy. >> they have set themselves that they are unfounded. i can't speak to your sources. those are your sources to speak to. >> the first lady shielding him -- >> i've answered the question. anthony bernal spoke for himself. you heard from our chief of staff who gave your publication a statement. you heard from me. i don't have anything else to say. so we don't end in that way, go ahead brian. >> i want to clean up something that you both spoke to today.

would you care to captor -- categorize the conversation that we've been told about, was it an ultimatum, did we deliver an ultimatum? >> it was a direct conversation. it was an honest conversation. it lasted 30 minutes. you heard from my colleague. we've said this many times before. you've heard this from us, from the president himself. the prime minister and the president have known each other for decades. because they've known each other for some time, they've been able to have a direct and honest conversation. so after what we saw, especially with seven lives taken who were part of the world central kitchen workers, who were doing heroic acts, providing humanitarian aid, after what we saw, the president was outraged. he was heartbroken. he wanted to have a direct

conversation on how to keep humanitarian aid workers safe, protective. also civilians, innocent civilians. that conversation has been happening for some time. on protecting innocent civilian lives. that's one of the reasons why he wanted to make sure that his team and the prime ministers team came together to talk about a potential raw for operation. he believes that we need to protect civilian lives. a major military operation was not the way to go, understanding that there are hamas operatives there. we have to make sure that we protect innocent lives here. so they had a very direct conversation. that's because they've known each other for many decades. everybody, thank you so much. hopefully we will see you tomorrow.

>> friday on c-span, a look at how the russia ukraine war, the conflict in gaza and other global offense are affecting international law and competition in the western hemisphere. the keynote speaker in a lecture series hosted by the brookings institution will speak. that's at 10:00 a.m. eastern. in the. afternoon, european versus u.s. support for ukraine in the war with russia. that set 1:30 eastern. also on c-span, c-span now or online at c-span.org. >> reuters is reporting that a judge in georgia has rejected former president donald trump's did to dismiss criminal charges against him in the states 2020 election interference case which he argued violated. his free-speech rights. the georgia judge ruled the

indictment against the former president alleges statements by him and 14 others were made "in furtherance of criminal activity, and are not protected by the first amendment to the u.s. constitution." the article also says judge mcafee's ruling as a signal he will continue moving the case toward a trial even as mr. trump and eight his lawyers continue to disqualify the prosecutor. >> c-span is your unfiltered view of government. refunded by these public television companies and more including comcast. >> you think this is just a community center? it's way more than that. >> comcast is partnering with 1000 community centers to create wi-fi enabled centers so students can get the tools they need to be ready for anything. c